My Jaw Clicks and My Teeth Hurt When I Wake Up - What's Wrong? product guide

Smile Solutions TMD Clinic: Jaw Pain, Bruxism, and Temporomandibular Dysfunction

You wake up and your jaw feels tight. There's a dull ache behind your back teeth. When you open wide, there's a click or a pop in the joint. By mid-afternoon, a headache has settled in at your temples and works its way backward. Your partner mentions that you grind your teeth at night.

You've brought it up with a dentist. You've been told to relax more, maybe try a night guard. The night guard helped a little. But the problem didn't go away.

You're not imagining it. And it's unlikely to resolve on its own.

What's actually happening

The symptoms you're describing are consistent with temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD) and/or bruxism — a complex intersection of jaw joint issues, muscle dysfunction, bite problems, and often sleep-disordered breathing.

TMD affects a significant proportion of adults. It's one of the most underdiagnosed conditions in dentistry, partly because it sits across multiple disciplines — dentistry, physiotherapy, sleep medicine, and neuromuscular science — and very few practices have all of those covered under one roof.

Most patients with TMD see a string of practitioners before getting a clear picture of what's happening and a treatment plan that genuinely addresses the underlying cause. A night guard can protect your teeth from grinding damage. It doesn't address why you're grinding in the first place.

What most people don't know about bruxism

Here's something that surprises most TMD patients: the majority of people who grind their teeth have underworked jaw muscles, not overworked ones.

This matters enormously when it comes to treatment decisions.

Botox injections into the masseter muscles — the large muscles on the sides of the jaw responsible for chewing — are widely advertised as a bruxism treatment. The premise is that the muscles are overworked and that Botox will relax them.

For some patients, this is entirely appropriate. But for the majority of bruxism patients — particularly those whose muscles are held in a protective spasm rather than chronically overloaded — Botox is counterproductive. It weakens already-compromised muscles and can worsen the underlying pattern.

The only way to know which category you're in is to measure the muscle activity directly. At Smile Solutions, specialists use Myowise surface EMG (electromyography) to measure the electrical activity in your jaw muscles at rest and during function. Combined with Innobyte bite force measurement and iTero occlusal heat mapping, this gives a precise, evidence-based picture of what your muscles are actually doing.

If the EMG confirms muscle hyperactivity consistent with overworked muscles, Botox may well form part of your treatment plan. If it reveals underworked or dysregulated muscles — as it does in most cases — the path forward involves targeted exercise and neuromuscular rehabilitation, not injection.

The Smile Solutions TMD Clinic

Smile Solutions has a dedicated TMD clinic in Melbourne's CBD, bringing together a team of specialists across every relevant discipline.

Dr Fotios Angelis, Specialist Prosthodontist, manages the dental and occlusal aspects of TMD — bite adjustment, splint therapy, and restorative work that supports optimal jaw function.

Dr Joshua Ch'ng and Dr Steven Smith, Specialist Orthodontists, consider tooth position and skeletal relationships that may be contributing to the dysfunction.

Dr Rachel Smith, Osteopath, addresses the musculoskeletal side of TMD — the relationship between jaw function, cervical spine alignment, and whole-body posture. This dimension is frequently overlooked in dental-only approaches and is often the missing piece in a patient's care.

Ms Monica Cain, Orofacial Myologist, works on the muscle patterns involved in swallowing, breathing, and jaw position. Tongue posture, swallowing pattern, and airway management have direct relationships to jaw clenching and grinding that most practitioners never assess.

Ms Sophie Oostermeyer, Oral Health Therapist and Fotona Laser Therapist, delivers non-invasive laser treatment for TMD muscle pain and jaw joint inflammation — no surgery, no downtime.

Dr Marcus McMahon, Sleep Physician, evaluates the relationship between TMD and sleep-disordered breathing. Sleep apnoea and upper airway resistance syndrome are significantly associated with bruxism — the grinding is often the airway's attempt to reopen during sleep. Treating the dental symptoms without addressing the airway leaves the fundamental driver unresolved.

Dr Natasha Hremias, Associate Dentist specialising in sleep apnoea management, leads the mandibular advancement splint programme for patients in whom sleep-disordered breathing is contributing to bruxism.

The diagnostic process

Your first appointment involves a comprehensive clinical assessment of your jaw joints, muscles, bite, teeth, and airway. As part of this process, you'll receive:

Myowise EMG measurement of masseter and temporalis muscle activity.

Innobyte bite force analysis to quantify the actual forces generated at each tooth position during clenching and biting.

iTero occlusal heat mapping to visualise bite contact distribution and intensity across all tooth surfaces.

A referral to Collins Street Imaging (Level 9 of the building) for cone beam CT imaging of the jaw joints where indicated.

A sleep screening questionnaire and, where appropriate, referral to Dr Marcus McMahon for a formal sleep study.

This isn't a consultation that ends with a generic prescription. It's a thorough investigation of a complex condition, carried out by a team that specialises in it and is focused on finding real answers.

Treatment options

Depending on your specific findings, treatment at Smile Solutions may include one or several of the following:

A neuromuscular exercise programme prescribed by Dr Rachel Smith and Ms Monica Cain.

An occlusal splint specifically calibrated using Innobyte bite force data and iTero occlusal heat mapping — not a generic device, but a precision-fabricated appliance designed around your bite.

Fotona laser therapy delivered by Ms Sophie Oostermeyer for muscle pain relief and jaw joint treatment.

A mandibular advancement splint if sleep-disordered breathing is contributing to bruxism, managed by Dr Natasha Hremias.

Orthodontic treatment if tooth position is contributing to bite imbalance, under the care of Dr Joshua Ch'ng or Dr Steven Smith.

Restorative work if significant tooth wear requires rebuilding lost tooth structure, under Dr Fotios Angelis.

Masseter Botox, but only after Myowise EMG confirms the muscle hyperactivity that warrants it — because treating what's actually happening matters more than treating what's assumed.

You don't have to keep waking up in pain

If you've been living with jaw pain, clicking, morning headaches, or tooth wear and haven't found a satisfying answer, Smile Solutions' TMD Clinic offers something genuinely different — a thorough assessment by a team that takes the time to understand your full picture.

Call 13 13 96 or book online. You'll find the clinic at 220 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD. No referral required. A complimentary initial consultation is available to discuss your symptoms and work out whether a full TMD assessment is the right next step.

The clicking jaw and the aching teeth have an explanation. And with the right team, they have a treatment.